Louisville vs. Kentucky

CATS VS CARDS: IS IT THE BIGGEST RIVALRY IN COLLEGE SPORTS?

Louisville and Kentucky basketball renew their rivalry Saturday at 4 p.m. in the KFC YUM! Center and on CBS Television. The Cards, #3 in the nation, are favored this year...for the first time in about a bazillion years.

This worries me. I've gotten used to Louisville being the underdog in the game. Ever since
John Calipari arrived in Lexington and set up his NBA Training program, the Cats have had a succession of "one and done" players breeze in and out of Rupp Arena that would rival patrons walking in and out of the Starbucks on Shelbyville Road. Without mocha delights.

I haven't followed this UK team very closely this year. Normally, I do like to have a broad-based familiarity on whose going to kick the crap out of my Cardinals...and I understand that
this particular Wildcat roster is not in the top-25.

They're probably not getting paid as much as the previous state employees either.

I have heard about the guy in the middle, Nervous Noel. Or Naworleans Noel. Whatever. My buddy "The Solo-Man" who lives and breathes Cardinal men's hoops tells me that he's OK around the hoop but the Cats will have trouble getting the ball to him because of our guards Russdiculous and Peyton. (What...they're going to take him to Waffle House)?

I understand UK also has a pretty good guard named Archie Goodwin. What a great sports name!

"Hey, Archie. Good win!"

I also think of my pal Bread Boy, who's first name is Archie. He's a big UofL fan. Then, there's Archie, Jughead, Betty and Veronica. Along with Nervous Noel, I assume that's
the UK starting lineup...

I am fond of this UofL team. They seem to be very talented , deep, prolific at scoring and they like grits, eggs, waffles and sugar. That gets a big O.K.! from me.  

The coaches...well, the only other thing that I'll say about them is this:

Sonja and I were in Memphis several years ago to attend a UofL vs. Memphis football game. This was the year we found a tailgate party for Newby's (a popular Memphis bar/restaurant)  that was being held in this big warehouse-type building, music blaring...fans of both schools having fun and dancing to recorded music.

It was near the lot we were tailgaiting in at the Liberty Bowl. Since her maiden name was
Newby...we went to go check it out and happened to run into the guy who owns Newby's and was running the tailgate. He invited us in, gave us food and drink wristbands at no charge an even a blue Memphis t-shirt with the Tigers and Newby's logo on it. I was talking
to a Memphis fan whose table we were sitting at and he mentioned that he saw we had
gotten Rick Pitino to come to Louisville. I'll never forget his words.

"Ya know, now that you got Pitino, it means that neither UofL or Memphis have basketball coaches anymore (referring to then-head Memphis coach John Calipari). What we have is
a couple of Italian Salesmen."

Louisville won the game that evening and we decided to check out his resataurant/bar after the contest. It was full of twenty-somethings and they had a rapper DJ. We didn't stay long.

So, in today's game, I'll watch and see which salesman has the best product to promote. Even though I'm worried about the Cards chances, I do think they have the superior talent.
I hope it shows up.

Cards 88 - Cats 83.

-Paulie